Old ammo poses risk

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California
THE UNION
Old ammo poses risk
Sweep targets Camp Beale's leftover shells
David Mirhadi
January 24, 2004

The last live piece of ammunition at the former Camp Beale hasn't been
fired in almost 45 years.

And yet, a generation later, people living in the Big Oak Valley and
near the Spenceville Wildlife Refuge areas still stumble across
unexploded ordnance and ammunition dating back to World War I.

The affected areas around the former Camp Beale now comprise more than
64,000 acres of undeveloped land and homes that straddle parts of Nevada
and Yuba counties. The Department of Defense purchased the area in 1942
and began selling the parcels back to the public in 1959.

While it's rare that residents find unexploded ordnance in the area, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is concerned that there are still pockets
of land where grenades and bombs exist.

The Corps of Engineers has been asked by the Department of Defense to
conduct an ordnance sweep of the two-county area immediately east of
Beale Air Force Base.

The sweep may take several years, said Arthur Smith, chief ordnance and
explosives safety manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, who spent the
past week educating some of tomorrow's homeowners about the dangers of
extracting rusty bullets and grenades from the ground.

Over the next few weeks, Smith and the Corps of Engineers will be
visiting schools near Lake Wildwood, Penn Valley and Wheatland with a
simple message to children curious about digging up antiquated weaponry.

That message, Smith told an audience of elementary school children at
Williams Ranch School, is clear: Recognize the ammunition, retreat, and
report whatever you find to the proper authorities.

Smith said mortar rounds have been found in Big Oak Valley, and grenades
and mortar shells have also been located.

At one point, Camp Beale was home to the 13th Armored Division, the only
unit of its kind to be entirely trained in California.

This article can be viewed at:
http://tu.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040124/NEWS/101240087

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